Maravot world news

Historical trend on the New Orleans debacle

09.09.05 White House faces new questions on Katrina relief

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) With President George W. Bush promising to speed help to anxious and frustrated survivors of Hurricane Katrina, questions emerged on Friday over the qualifications of those leading the relief effort. Many of those at the top of the US agency charged with managing disaster relief had no emergency oversight experience but did have political ties to Bush, the Washington Post reported. In addition, embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown had less experience in disaster relief than described in his official agency biography and cited during his confirmation hearing, Time magazine reported. It quoted a local official as saying a prior job was "more like an intern" than a manager.

Along the US Gulf Coast rescue and recovery teams continued searching for the dead and trying to evacuate the few remaining holdouts from the once vibrant New Orleans, today a flooded and stinking ghost town.

In Washington, Bush administration officials were busy rushing fresh aid to the region while also trying to blunt the political fallout over the federal response to what, at an estimated $100 billion to $200 billion, could be the costliest natural disaster in US history. [More>>thestar.com.my; khaleejtimes.com]

09.09.05 Colin Powell on Iraq, race and hurricane relief

September 9 – ... Powell, 68, who recently visited storm survivors at Reunion Arena in Dallas, said he was "deeply moved" by the families displaced by the devastating storm and was critical of the preparations for Hurricane Katrina. "I think there have been a lot of failures at a lot of levels — local, state and federal. There was more than enough warning over time about the dangers to New Orleans. Not enough was done. I don't think advantage was taken of the time that was available to us, and I just don't know why," Powell told ABC News' Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview airing Friday night at 10 p.m. on "20/20."

Powell doesn't think race was a factor in the slow delivery of relief to the hurricane victims as some have suggested. "I don't think it's racism, I think it's economic," he told Walters. "When you look at those who weren't able to get out, it should have been a blinding flash of the obvious to everybody that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own. These are people who don't have credit cards; only one in 10 families at that economic level in New Orleans have a car. So it wasn't a racial thing — but poverty disproportionately affects African-Americans in this country. And it happened because they were poor," he said.

Making False Case for War Still 'Painful'

When Powell left the Bush administration in January 2005, he was widely seen as having been at odds with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney over foreign policy choices.

It was Powell who told the United Nations and the world that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and posed an imminent threat. He told Walters that he feels "terrible" about the claims he made in that now-infamous address — assertions that later proved to be false.

When asked if he feels it has tarnished his reputation, he said, "Of course it will. It's a blot. I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and [it] will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now."

...Nonetheless, Powell said, some lower-level personnel in the intelligence community failed him and the country. "There were some people in the intelligence community who knew at that time that some of these sources were not good, and shouldn't be relied upon, and they didn't speak up. That devastated me," he said. [More>>abcnews.go.com]

09.09.05 Shame on America – editorial, Samuel G. Freedman

September 9 – (Jerusalem Post editorial) On the second weekend of January 1979, shortly after I had moved to Chicago, a 50-centimeter blizzard struck the city. In its wake, the temperature plunged well below zero, and even in a city accustomed to harsh winters, the El trains came to a virtual halt. When the next work week began, city officials came up with a solution. On one of the transportation system's major lines, trains picked up a full load of passengers in the white neighborhoods of the far South Side and rumbled past platform after platform of frozen, wind-whipped blacks on the 20-kilometer route through the ghetto to the downtown Loop.

That episode laid bare two truths. The legendary Democratic machine could no longer deliver the basic services that it had promised voters in exchange for Election Day fealty, as well as a wide berth for corruption. And, if some of the loyal minions were to be discarded, it would be the blacks...My sister-in-law, herself a Chicagoan, reminded me of the "Blizzard of '79" and its aftermath the other day, as we discussed the Bush administration's response, or lack thereof, to the flooding of New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina. Once again, a natural disaster served to expose political cynicism and incompetence of the highest order. Would that there were an election just a few weeks away, as was the case 26 years ago in Chicago.

The state of emergency in New Orleans is, to put it more accurately, a national state of disgrace. Never before in nearly 50 years of life have I felt a comparable shame in my nation. Every report of a foreign country offering disaster relief, Israel included, makes me feel humiliated.

The residents of New Orleans deserve every penny (or shekel) that can be donated to their rescue and resettlement. The government of George W. Bush deserves nothing but the contempt of the world. Until it was embarrassed into belated action, it had, to use a metaphor that Israelis should understand, left its dead and wounded on the field of battle. The powerless and infirm, the poor and nonwhite, were abandoned to cling to rooftops as the waters rose, to collapse in their homes, to lie barely alive on the baggage-claim carousels of the airport, to loot stores for diapers, water and food. [Full story>>Jerusalem Post]

Editorial note: The much publicized comment of President Bush's mother while visiting the refugees in the Houston Astrodome may reflect what is being said here: Mrs. Bush indicated that the people who lost their homes and livelihood and loved ones had been delivered to a better place and station than they had before Hurricane Katrina. President Bush's mother seems to reflect a disconnection between their privileged class and most of the people of this country, and it may be that being economically challenged determines who is saved and who is not. Human dignity has nothing to do with economic status.

The comparison Freedman makes with regard to "leaving the dead on the field of battle," surely indicates the difference in the roles of military combatants. In war, while suffering losses, the US military has a code of never abandoning its wounded, dying or dead on the field of battle. Yet, in the case of Katrina, we still wait one week later for the attention to finally turn to retrieving the dead. It is apparent that FEMA and the Bush administration's concept of "not abandoning the dead" only applies to US troops and not to its impoverished citizens.

09.09.05 Mumbai again hit by heavy rain, traffic affected

MUMBAI, India (AFP) September 9 – Heavy rains on Friday flooded streets and brought rail traffic to a standstill in parts of India�s main financial city, Mumbai, still recovering from a deluge six weeks ago that killed more than 400 people. A sense of panic spread across portions of the city after streets started to waterlog, evoking memories of July 26, when 944.2 millimeters (37.1 inches) of rain fell in a one-day period and tens of thousands of commuters were forced to walk home for hours in waist-deep water. Aside from the 438 people who were killed in the city through drownings, landslides and building collapses, more than 200 people died later from waterborne diseases. Weather officials, however, Friday said that, while more rains were expected in coming days, they would not be exceptional. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

09.09.05 Filipino and Indonesian militants collaborating to raise funds for new attacks: reports

MANILA (AP) September 9 – Muslim militants in the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines and their Indonesian allies have been trying to solicit money from unidentified Middle Eastern financiers to buy weapons and fund new terror attacks, according to government reports. Details of the fund-raising effort and planned attacks were obtained by Philippine security officials from Indonesian counterparts, who recently captured two suspected militants with knowledge of Filipino rebel activities, the reports said. Copies of the reports, which summarized intelligence relayed by Indonesian authorities, were seen by The Associated Press on Friday.

The captured militants in Indonesia – Abdullah Sunata, allegedly the head of a group called Kompak in Ambon, and Encen Kurnia, who reportedly belongs to Negara Islam Indonesia – were among 15 suspected militants captured by the Indonesian police during an anti-insurgency sweep from June to July, the reports said. Four of the 15, including Sunata and Kurnia, had received military training in southern Philippine rebel camps. The two later helped organize covert training and escort Indonesian recruits from their country to the southern region of Mindanao, according to the reports. [More>>thejakartapost.com]

09.09.05 Update, 09.08.05 Pakistan wants India-type Nuclear deal with US

WASHINGTON, September 8 – Pakistan should have the same access to US civilian nuclear technology that President George W. Bush has proposed for India, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States said. Jehangir Karamat, Pakistan's former Army chief, also warned that "the balance of power in South Asia should not become so tilted in India's favour, as a result of the US relationship with India, that Pakistan has to start taking extraordinary measures to ensure a capability for deterrence and defence."

"Whatever legislation is made shouldn�t be a specific, one-time affair just for India," Karamat told the associated press, "but should leave the door open for other countries that meet the same criteria and show good responsibility and satisfy the United States' concerns." Critics, however, contend that Pakistan's is a different case from India's. [More>>expressindia.com; See update 9.09.05, expressindia.com, "US not for civil Nuclear Pact with Pakistan" ; WASHINGTON (PTI) The United States entered into a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India because it was an "exceptional case," a senior state department official said and ruled out negotiating any such pact with Pakistan. "We view India as an exceptional case and see civil nuclear cooperation as a mechanism to deepen further India's commitment to international non-proliferation," under secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Robert G Joseph said.]

09.09.05 Pakistan, India to sign gas pipeline agreement in December

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) September 9 – Pakistan and India said on Friday a tripartite framework agreement to build a $7 billion gas project to pipe Iranian gas to South Asia would be finalized by December 2005. "We believe a substantial progress has been achieved and we are moving towards the implementation phase," Pakistan Petroleum Secretary Ahmad Waqar told news conference after talks with Indian officials in Islamabad. Officials from both countries, who discussed legal, financial, technical and commercial aspects of the project, expected physical work could start in the middle of 2007. [More>>expressindia.com]

09.09.05 Mahathir triggers diplomatic walkout with attack over Iraq

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) September 9 – Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad triggered a diplomatic walkout from a human rights conference Friday when he accused the United States and Britain of killing innocent civilians in Iraq. Mahathir, who is famous for his anti-Western rhetoric, described Britain and the United States as liars, terrorists and murderers, prompting diplomats including British High Commissioner Bruce Cleghorn to leave the venue. Cleghorn �was not prepared to listen to a tirade of abuse and misrepresentation of his country and its foreign policy," British High Commission first secretary Edward Hobart told AFP. Hungarian ambassador Tamas Toth confirmed he also walked out in protest, saying his country was part of the �coalition of the willing� and has sent troops to Iraq.

Mahathir told the audience of some 350 diplomats and human rights activists that the invasion was Iraq was made on false pretences, and that the claim Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction �was a lie."

�The British and American bomber pilots came, unopposed, safe and cosy in their state-of-the-art aircrafts, pressing buttons to drop bombs, to kill and maim real people who were their targets, just targets,� he said. �And these murderers, for that is what they are, would go back to celebrate �mission accomplished.'" [More>>khaleejtimes.com and

09.09.05 US – Iraqi force arrests 200 militants

September 9 – A joint US-Iraqi force punched deep into Tal Afar, a key insurgent staging ground near the Syrian border, and the Iraqi Army said it arrested 200 suspected militants - three-fourths of them non-Iraqi Arabs. The US military reported killing seven insurgents in the past two days in the predominantly Turkmen city, where 70 percent of that ethnic group is Sunni, the sect that dominates the Iraqi insurgency. There were growing indications that the US-Iraqi force was preparing to intensify the operation.

Near Baghdad, police reported finding 16 bodies near a farming town south of the capital. None of the shooting victims could be identified. Soldiers and police found 15 bodies near Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometers south of the capital. The area is heavily Sunni. "All the bodies are in civilian clothes and have no identification documents," said Lieutenant Adnan Abdullah of the Mahmoudiya police. Two more bodies, blindfolded and handcuffed, were found on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, near a sewage treatment plant, police said.

Election officials, meanwhile, tallied figures from three Sunni-dominated provinces, where the voter registration had been extended for a week in preparation for the October 15 nationwide referendum on the new constitution. "Turnout was unbelievable and people were very enthusiastic specially in Fallujah and Ramadi," said Farid Ayar, an electoral commission spokesman in Baghdad. Those cities are Sunni insurgent bastions in the vast Anbar Province that stretches west from Baghdad to the Syrian, Jordanian and Saudi borders. The large voter sign-up suggested Sunnis were mobilizing to defeat the draft charter, a marked tactical shift from January, when their boycott of the parliamentary election handed control of the 275-member National Assembly to Shiites and Kurds. [More>>dailystar.com.lb; See related story, khaleejtimes.com, "Final draft of Iraq's constitution not in sight – UN" : BAGHDAD - Iraq�s draft constitution had still not hit the printing press on Friday, in the absence of parliamentary approval of the final text barely a month before a nationwide referendum on the charter. Meanwhile, the draft had reportedly been amended to accommodate demands of disenchanted Sunni Arabs ensuring the Arab identity of Iraq, and the Arab League also pledged to open a representative office in the war-torn country. The United Nations, which is in charge of printing some five million copies of the new constitution to distribute to Iraqi families before the scheduled referendum, said it has not yet received the final text. �We are hoping to receive it at least by Sunday,� Nicholas Haysom, UN official in charge of constitution affairs, said on Friday.]

09.08.05 Team removing 30 bodies found in nursing home – Thousands of people remain in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS, September 8 – In a grim indicator of what may lie ahead, authorities were removing the remains of more than 30 people from a flooded nursing home in a suburban New Orleans parish. The discovery at St. Rita's Nursing Home in lower St. Bernard Parish came as 25,000 body bags arrived at the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Early Thursday, the official death toll along from Hurricane Katrina stood at 294, but that number is expected to rise dramatically.

Mortuary teams with refrigerated trucks began arriving Wednesday at the nursing home, where St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stevens said "30-plus" bodies were found. Between 40 and 50 other people were rescued from the facility, Stevens said...The parish is east of New Orleans, where between 10,000 and 15,000 people are believed to remain in the flooded city, and thousands are feared dead.

Deputies reported that floodwaters had reached a height of eight feet in some parts of St. Bernard. The nursing home was still surrounded by about three feet of water on Wednesday, as authorities began removing bodies.

Throughout New Orleans and its surrounding parishes, National Guard troops were going house to house to search for survivors and recover the dead – marking the houses they searched with an "X" to avoid duplication, said Brig. Gen. Michael Fleming, commander of a Florida unit dispatched to New Orleans...Many Louisiana parishes were still largely under water on Wednesday, virtually inaccessible except by air. St. Bernard Parish President Henry Rodriguez said most of the structures there will have to be rebuilt. Rodriguez said state and federal aid was slow in coming, and that his parish made it through the early days with the help of sheriffs from other states, a contingent of 50 Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other first responders...New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, warning that it's not safe to stay in the city.

The floodwaters are contaminated with sewage, chemicals and decaying corpses. Nagin said those who remained faced the risk of water-and mosquito-borne disease and blazes caused by natural gas leaks.

Police Superintendent Eddie Compass said police would not start the forced evacuations until everyone who wants to leave is out. [Full story with updates>>cnn.com; See also (Reuters) khaleejtimes.com story, "Hide and seek in New Orleans storm effort."]

09.08.05 How to tame the fury of hurricanes

September 8 – Peter N. Spotts, Christian Science Monitor, reports: Down in bayou country, the Mississippi River's spreading fingers have spent the past 7,000 years building, then deserting, old riverbanks as they course through the delta toward the Gulf of Mexico. Topped with crushed clamshells, many of these old banks have become virtually the only roads through the region.

When New Orleans native Donald Boesch was younger, he'd drive along some of these roads, pull over, and see marsh grass stretching to the horizon. "There would be little lakes in there," he recalls. "But from that vantage point, it looked for all the world like it was a huge sea of grass." Today, many of those same spots look like vast lakes, dotted by the odd stand of grass, adds Boesch, president of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science.

As federal, state, and local officials begin planning for New Orleans' recovery, many specialists say they expect the disaster to jump-start efforts to rebuild these wetlands and the barrier islands just offshore. These natural features represent New Orleans' first line of defense against the storm surges that accompany hurricanes. But over the past half century, levees and canals, which were designed to reduce flood damage and support oil and gas pipelines and facilities, have substantially weakened these defenses.

Meanwhile, funding for comprehensive plans to rebuild the wetlands has run at a trickle. In 1998, state and federal agencies offered up a $14 billion, 30-year restoration blueprint. The first $2 billion appears in a water-resources bill now working its way through Congress. The measure would authorize three major water-diversion projects and a barrier-island restoration effort. [More>>abcnews.go.com]

09.08.05 Caribbean leaders sign up to Petrocaribe

September 8 – Caribbean leaders yesterday formally signed up to Petrocaribe, the much touted oil initiative put forward by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez aimed at offering cheap crude to developing countries. Under the plan, Caribbean governments would pay market price for Venezuelan oil, but they would only be required to pay a portion of the cost up front and could finance the rest over 25 years at 1-percent interest. Governments could also pay for part of the cost with services or goods such as rice, bananas or sugar while oil-rich Venezuela would provide assistance in expanding shipping and refining facilities.

Non-oil-producing Middle East countries have long asked Gulf states to sell them cheaper-priced oil and many will watch how Petrocaribe works in practice to see if it can provide a template to aid their own economies.

Venezuela is the world's fifth-largest oil producer and a leading member of OPEC but has consistently opposed the cartel's production increases, calls for which have been led largely Mideast Gulf nations, as prices soared in the last year. Venezuela insists the current high price of oil is caused by a lack of refining capacity and financial speculation rather than underproduction. [More>>dailystar.com.lb; See also dailystar.com story, "Kuwait to post $26 billion surplus over oil windfall."]

09.08.05 Putin says Baltic Sea gas pipeline will extend to Britain

BERLIN (RIA Novosti) September 8 – The Baltic Sea gas pipeline will eventually go across the Netherlands to reach Backton, Great Britain, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at a press conference in Berlin. Once the gas pipeline is extended to Great Britain, it will be 3,000 kilometers long. Putin said the gas pipeline, currently scheduled to be built under the Baltic Sea from Vyborg in northeast Russia to Greifswald in northern Germany, with extensions to Sweden, Finland and the Kaliningrad Region (Russia's enclave in the Baltic Sea), will be 1,200 kilometers long.

"The design capacity of the North-European gas pipeline is almost 20 billion cu m of gas per annum, but it can eventually transport 55 billion cubic meters a year. The project's first stage will cost $2 billion and its total price will be $5.7 billion," the president said. [rian.ru]

09.08.05 Siberian oil pipeline to go to China first: Putin

September 8 – Russian President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that his nation's trans-Siberian oil pipeline will export oil to China, instead of Japan, first, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a meeting with Western analysts and journalists at the Kremlin late on Monday, Putin said shipments initially would go to China's oil center in Daqing, according to the US newspaper, citing participants of the meeting.

"The Daqing pipeline will be built first," Putin reportedly told the group. "But we will also build to Nakhodka." The Russian government refused to comment on the report. According to the newspaper, construction of the pipeline is to begin later this year, with the first stage capable of carrying 30 million metric tons of crude oil annually from the Siberian city of Taishet to Skovorodino near the Chinese border. From there, the pipeline is expected to take two-thirds of the oil south to Daqing, while the remaining 10 million metric tons would be shipped by rail to a new port to be built on the Pacific coast near Nakhodka. The project is expected to be completed around 2008.

Putin also pledged to expand the line's capacity to 50 million metric tons a year, or roughly 1.2 million barrels per day, and to extend the line all the way to the Pacific coast at some time in the future, the Journal report said. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

09.08.05 Saudi says five most-wanted militants killed in protracted battle

RIYADH (AFP) September 8 – Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that five Al Qaeda suspects on a most-wanted list were killed in a three-day battle with security forces in the eastern city of Dammam, the latest in a series of offensives against the militants. Four security men also died in the operation, which began with a shootout Sunday in a commercial thoroughfare in the main city of the oil-rich Eastern Province and ended Tuesday with the storming of a militants hideout in another neighborhood.

The five Al Qaeda suspects were Zaid Al Samari, Saleh Al Fraidi, Sultan Al Haseri, Nayef Al Jeheishi and Mohammad Al Suwailmi, all Saudis, some of whom took part in attacks against Westerners last year, the interior ministry said in a statement read on state television. They all figured on a list of 36 most-wanted militants issued by the ministry in June.

Haseri, 26, was cited as having �taken part in the abduction and killing of a (foreign) resident� — an apparent reference to American engineer Paul Johnson, whose kidnapping and beheading in June 2004 marked the climax of a string of attacks against Western residents by presumed Al Qaeda extremists.

Explaining why it took security forces a long time to storm the �den� they had been besieging since Sunday, the interior ministry said the �members of the deviant group� — official terminology for Al Qaeda suspects — had filled the site, located inside a crowded residential neighborhood, with explosives. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

09.08.05 Medical experts: Yasser Arafat died of AIDS or poisoning

September 8 – An analysis of the confidential medical report on Yasser Arafat's death reveals three main possibilities as to the cause: poisoning, AIDS or an infection. Israel and foreign doctors who have seen the report say the details do not lead to a conclusive determination on what caused the death.

After Arafat died on November 11, 2004 at a military hospital in Paris, copies of the pathology report compiled by the hospital staff - and kept under wraps until now - were handed over to Arafat's widow, Suha, and senior Palestinian Authority officials. The report's findings are now being published for the first time in the revised edition of "The Seventh War" by journalists Amos Harel and Avi Isacharoff, to be released next week by Yedioth Ahronoth in Hebrew...The report does not lift the veil of mystery surrounding Arafat's death entirely: It lists the immediate cause of death as a massive brain hemorrhage, but adds that "a discussion among a large number of medical experts... shows that it is impossible to pinpoint a cause that will explain the combination of symptoms that led to the death of the patient."

Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, Arafat's personal physician who played no part in the late PA chairman's medical care during the final weeks of his life, said that he knows that the French doctors found the AIDS virus in Arafat's blood. Al-Kurdi refuses to divulge the source of this information, but claims that the virus was put into Arafat's blood in an effort to blur the traces of poisoning, which was the cause of death. [Full story>>haaretzdaily.com]

09.08.05 Yushchenko sacks Ukraine government over corruption scandal

KIEV (AFP) September 8 – Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko dismissed his government amid a deepening corruption scandal that had produced a string of high-level resignations and called into question the integrity of the "orange revolution" leader's administration. "I am signing an order to dismiss the government and the secretary of the National Security Council," Yushchenko said in a televised statement on Thursday.

The Ukrainian president appointed long-time ally Yury Yekhanurov, head of the industrialized eastern Dniepropetrovsk region, as acting prime minister in place of fiery Yulia Tymoshenko, a charismatic leader who roused crowds during the "orange revolution" protests last year.

Yushchenko said he made the decision because the infighting within his administration had begun to interfere with the goals that he had set for his government after he took power. "We are witnessing a paradox – many new faces have come to power, but the face of power has not changed," Yushchenko said in the taped version of the interview, which appeared to be cut in places, aired on Ukrainian television. [More>>turkishpress.com; See related story, rian.ru, "Mistakes brought about Ukrainian government's downfall – Russian MP."]

09.08.05 Japanese encephalitis kills 53 in India

September 8 – The death toll from an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in northern India reached nearly 600, officials said Thursday, as another 53 people died overnight. Authorities struggled to find money for pesticides that could stop the spread of the mosquito-borne disease. Hospitals in India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, are struggling to cope with the influx of patients suffering from the disease. Another 123 people were hospitalized in state-run institutions overnight, bringing the total number of reported infections to 2,400, hundreds of whom remain in hospitals, said Vijay Shankar Nigam of the state's health department.

But he said the number of people infected since the outbreak began early August is likely higher. "We are not keeping track of patients coming to private hospitals," he said.

With 53 deaths overnight, Nigam said, the overall death toll reached 594. No new deaths have been reported in neighboring Nepal, where the disease has killed 172 people since April. Some Nepali victims are being treated in India, Indian officials say. Japanese encephalitis causes high fever and vomiting, and can sometimes lead to coma and death. It is spread by mosquitos that breed in ponds and puddles left by the region's annual June-September monsoon rains. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

09.07.05 Arab commentators highlight US impotence in face of Katrina

CAIRO (AFP) September 7 – The death and devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and the slow response to the catastrophe by the Bush administration has shown up the "impotence" of the world's only superpower in the eyes of many in the Middle East. Some of the more vitriolic commentators in the Arab world even suggested the hurricane was a just revenge for American "killing and plundering" across the globe, including its war on Iraq.

"The Bush administration itself through its hegemony and enmity has targeted nations and people with all sorts of human Katrinas, shellings, killings and occupation," said Jordanian independent Arabic-language newspaper Al-Ghad.

Katrina, the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, has left thousands dead and many more homeless on the Gulf of Mexico, laying waste to the city of New Orleans and triggering widespread looting and reports of rape and shootings.

"The failure of the United States to deal with the consequences of Hurricane Katrina has highlighted the weakness of the American superpower," wrote Egypt's government newspaper Al-Akhbar.

"[U.S. President George W.] Bush is seen as a bad omen by the people of the United States," added editorial writer Galal Doweidar. "The anger and revulsion of the American people over the impotence in handling the catastrophe also reflects disappointment with Bush, whose years in power are now linked with multiple crises, even natural disasters," he said. "Bush has failed twice: He is as incapable of handling the crisis in New Orleans as the crisis in Iraq," said another editorial writer in Al-Akhbar. [More>>dailystar.com.lb]

09.07.05 US faces huge task to identify Katrina victims

BANGKOK (Reuters) September 7 – US police face a �hell of a task� to identify thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims left rotting in heat and humidity similar to the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami, a top forensic expert said on Wednesday. "I don�t envy them at all," said Detective Superintendent Derek Forest, a Briton who has been running the largest forensic operation in history to try to identify the nearly 5,500 victims of the Dec. 26 disaster in Thailand.

"We had 5,500 here and we�re still going after eight months — and we�ve still got 1,500 we�re trying to identify," Forest told Reuters...Even though Thailand sent DNA to laboratories in the United States and China after the tsunami, much of the data that came back was insufficiently precise to allow for a positive identification...The two other main methods of post-mortem analysis — fingerprinting and dental records — might also prove ineffective in some cases, Forest said.

With fingerprints, the longer a body lies in water the more difficult it is to obtain reliable prints, while dental records can prove useless if children have had no fillings. His comments raise the prospect that many victims of Katrina — children in particular — might never be identified. "Children don�t tend to have a lot of dental history and as oral hygiene improves, they�re having fillings later and later in life," Forest said. [Full story>>msnbc.msn.com]

09.07.05 Five Katrina evacuees die from contaminated water

WASHINGTON, September 7 – Hurricane Katrina could slow US economic growth by 0.5 to 1.0 percent for the rest of the year with the loss of 400,000 jobs, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. [jang.com.pk; See more details turkishpress.com. In a separate article, "New Orleans floodwater contaminated with E. Coli, lead" : New Orleans floodwaters contain unsafe levels of E. coli and coliform bacteria, as well as lead, and contact with the water should be avoided, US Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen Johnson urged Wednesday. [jang.com.pk]

09.07.05 Katrina kills most fish in New Orleans aquarium

September 7 – Hurricane Katrina killed most of the fish in the New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association Web site reported. The animals were killed when the facility lost power and the staff had to evacuate. A small staff is tending to the surviving animals and preparing to move them out of the facility, which is at the foot of Canal Street along the Mississippi River. The Aquarium of the Americas was considered one of the foremost aquariums in the world, the conservation Web site Mongabay.com said. "It had 10,000 fish representing more than 530 species and featured four enormous exhibits -- Mississippi River gallery featuring catfish, paddlefish and alligators; the Caribbean Reef exhibit featuring a clear, 30-foot-long tunnel surrounded by aquatic creatures; the Amazon Rainforest display featuring piranhas and tropical birds; and the Gulf of Mexico exhibit featuring sharks, sea turtles and stingrays -- in addition to a number of smaller displays." Some animals survived the loss of power, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association Web site reported...Meanwhile, New Orleans' other animal centers fared better, with only a pair of river otters reported dead at the Audubon Zoo and a whooping crane lost at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species. [Full story>>cnn.com]

09.07.05 Mayor: Get out or risk being taken out

NEW ORLEANS, September 7 – To the estimated 10,000 residents still believed to be holed up in this ruined city, the mayor had a blunt new warning: Get out now - or risk being taken out by force. As floodwaters began to slowly recede with the first of the city's pumps returning to operation, Mayor C. Ray Nagin instructed law enforcement officers and the U.S. military late Tuesday to evacuate all holdouts for their own safety. He warned that the fetid water could spread disease and that natural gas was leaking all over town.

By midday Wednesday, however, no forced evacuations were reported. Police Capt. Marlon Defillo said police were focusing for now on people who wanted to be rescued. And Art Jones of the state Homeland Security Department said the National Guard does not work for the mayor and has yet to receive orders from the military to force people out. [More>>wwltv.com]

09.07.05 Hillary Clinton rejects Bush-led probe of Katrina

WASHINGTON (AFP) September 7 – US Senator Hillary Clinton fueled the political debate over Hurricane Katrina on Wednesday, insisting on an independent inquiry into the federal response and sharply rejecting President George W. Bush�s bid to lead the probe himself.

�I don�t think the government should be investigating itself,� Clinton told CNN as the polemics intensified over last week�s storm, which left New Orleans in chaos and thousands feared dead on the US Gulf Coast.

�I don�t think either the president or the Congress can conduct the kind of objective, independent investigation that we need,� the New York Democrat and former first lady said on CBS television...Senate Republicans have announced investigations into the government�s handling of Katrina. Bush, who has acknowledged shortcomings, promised on Tuesday to lead an inquiry into �what went wrong.� [Full story>>khaleejtimes.com]

09.07.05 Iran says ready to satisfy international nuclear concerns

ISLAMABAD (AFP) September 7 – Iran will continue with its atomic programme but is ready to satisfy any international concerns, its chief nuclear negotiator said on Wednesday as he held talks with Pakistani leaders. Ali Larijani�s visit to Pakistan a fellow Islamic republic but also a key US ally is part of Tehran�s search for regional support amid threats that the row over its nuclear plans could be referred to the UN Security Council. �Having said this principle, that we are determined to have nuclear technology, at the same time we are fully prepared to have any negotiation or discussion to remove the international concern,� Larijani told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

09.07.05 Growing energy moves by China make US angry

September 7 – China will be increasingly in conflict with the United States if it continues to pursue good relations and energy deals with countries U.S. believes �problematic�, a senior Bush administration official said Tuesday. However, Beijing says it has pursued an independent foreign policy, guided by the principle of mutual respect for sovereignty, mutual benefit, non-interference into each other�s internal affairs and peaceful coexistence, which is earning it growing friends.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick told reporters in Washington that he was worried about China�s increasing energy ventures in cooperation with countries such as Iran, Sudan and Venezuela, which Washington does not like. Zoellick said that it was unlikely that China could guarantee its energy security through contracts with countries which Washington considers troublesome "because you can't lock up energy resources" in a global marketplace, the Reuters quoted him as saying.

Zoellick, in charge of a new U.S. strategic dialogue with Beijing, discussed key issues facing the two countries ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's attendance at the United Nations summit in New York next week. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

Editorial note: The US imports about 18% of its oil from Venenzuela. The issue probably relates more to concerns by Bush in protecting US interests in South America – i.e. the Monroe Doctrine.

09.07.05 Talabani: Saddam has confessed

September 7 – Iraq's president says former leader Saddam Hussein has confessed to crimes, including killings committed under his government. President Jalal Talabani told Iraqi television on Tuesday that he had been informed by an investigating judge that "he (the judge) was able to extract confessions from Saddam's mouth". Talabani said the ousted leader had spoken about crimes "as executions" which he had personally ordered. Iraq's new president said some of the confessions involved cases actively under investigation but he did not specify them. Saddam Hussein faces his first trial on 19 October for his alleged role in the massacre of Shia Muslims in Dujail, a town north of Baghdad, in 1982. The former president could face the death penalty if convicted. [More>>aljazeera.net]

(2) The name, Allah, in Arabic is an expression of surprise. It is not unusual for the God of the Bible to be known by many names. Jewish Midrash quotes passages in the Old Testament (Torah) that cite as many as seventy names of God (and more). But they can all be reduced down to one name.
(5) The Law of the Locrians: "In the legislation of the Locrians, the proposer of a new law, with a halter round his neck, to be instantly tightened if the public assembly did not, on hearing his reasons, then and there adopt his proposition." [Mill, On Liberty, 2.475].

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Copyright © 1981-2005 Mel Copeland. All rights reserved
Painting of Apple by Mel Copeland, early 70's
Background: tile from Cicero's villa (Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 B.C. - 43 B.C.)

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